Google plans search service for mobile content

Google Inc. is developing a new search service for cellphones
that will help consumers find and buy ringtones, games and other
mobile content as the Internet company pushes more deeply into
wireless, people familiar with the matter say.

Google already offers cellphone users a version of its popular
engine for searching the Web. Now the company wants to go beyond
just looking up Web pages, effectively becoming a gateway for
finding and paying for mobile media content.

With the new system, users would search for a piece of content
-- say, a U2 ringtone -- and get back a list of providers as well
as links enabling them to easily purchase the material. Eventually,
Google would charge companies for high placement in the search
results, much the way it offers "sponsored links" on computer Web
searches, the people familiar with the plans say.

The company has been working for months with content providers
-- including large entertainment companies and smaller mobile-media
aggregators -- to index their material and make it available via
mobile search. But the project has been marred by a series of
technical delays, people familiar with the matter say, illustrating
that there's a learning curve as Internet giants adjust to the
peculiarities of the mobile world. It isn't clear how soon Google
plans to launch the service.

The Internet company has considered including a
social-networking component that would let users of the company's
Gmail email service exchange content, a person familiar with the
initiative says. Overall, the service would work much like the
Google Product Search service, formerly known as Froogle, people
familiar with the situation say. A spokeswoman for Google declines
to comment.

Google's plans to broker the sale of mobile content like
ringtones and games could become a threat to large cellphone
operators like Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc., especially if
Google enables customer payment through eBay Inc.'s PayPal or its
own online Checkout service. The operators have built their own
storefronts to sell such material, and they would prefer to hold on
to consumers' attention and spending. If billing goes through the
carriers instead, appearing on customers' monthly bills, carriers
could actually benefit because they usually get a significant cut
of such transactions.

Though mobile content is still a small market, it is growing
quickly. Global sales of music, video, ringtones and other content
reached $27.4 billion last year, and they are expected to grow to
$59.3 billion by 2011, according to the technology-research and
consulting firm Yankee Group.

Google has lately been sparring with Verizon and other operators
in Washington over Google's proposal to have regulators open up
wireless networks to more services from Internet companies and
others. Google has also made a series of moves lately to beef up
its presence on cellphones. The company recently began testing a
service -- similar to its AdSense platform on the Internet -- that
will broker ads for other mobile Web sites. Last month, its YouTube
unit made a version of its video-sharing Web site available for
Apple Inc.'s iPhone. And the company has said it's working on new
software applications for cellphones as well as a software platform
for such devices on which other developers could build.

Other Internet companies have also been pushing into mobile
lately. In June, Yahoo Inc. launched a partnership with the
U.K.-based carrier Vodafone Group PLC to show banner ads on
cellphones for such companies as Ford and Nissan. In a small deal
it didn't announce publicly, Yahoo also recently acquired a small
company called Actionality that brokers ads for applications and
games that can be downloaded to cellphones. Time Warner Inc.'s AOL,
meanwhile, acquired mobile advertising provider Third Screen Media
in May.

When it comes to searches on cellphones, Internet companies like
Google and Yahoo have been competing with start-ups like Medio
Systems Inc. and JumpTap Inc. The lure for all providers is the
potential ad revenue that could be generated by sponsored links
alongside search results. Revenue from search ads is still tiny,
but Google and others see it growing down the road.

The start-ups have snagged early deals with U.S. wireless
operators like Verizon Wireless, Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile USA
and Alltel Corp. The carriers integrate the start-ups' search tools
into their handsets to make it easier for consumers to find content
in the carriers' mobile storefronts and to look up local
businesses. Microsoft Corp. is the only major Internet company to
land such a partnership with a U.S. carrier, a pact with Sprint
Nextel that provides a search bar customers can use to find
everything from ringtones on Sprint's storefront to local
restaurants.

Translating Internet search to the cellphone screen isn't
trivial. While consumers search the Web for just about everything
on PCs, cellphone users are usually interested in a much narrower
universe of information, such as sports scores, the phone numbers
of local businesses and media downloads like games and
wallpaper.

The small cellphone screen limits the space to display results,
so search providers have to be as precise as possible in
determining what a user wants.
Google's mobile search isn't promoted by carriers, but consumers
are beginning to discover it. Google has a separate search service
that lets users send a text message to "googl," or 46645, to look
up a local business.